NEWPORT — A longtime Newport resident was murdered in Florida late Tuesday night.

Police in Sebring, Florida, say they found the body of 51-year-old Shirley Anne Temple on the kitchen floor of the mobile home where she lived, after being stabbed multiple times with several different knives.

Richard Conway Strickland, 51, was covered “almost head to toe” in blood and sitting on a chair outside the mobile home when the first deputy arrived just before 10:30 p.m.

While waiting for detectives and crime scene units to process the scene, Strickland voluntarily made several statements admitting guilt, saying he had gotten into an argument with Temple in the living room and “lost it” and began stabbing her.

Strickland said when Temple stopped moving, he called family members and asked them to come to the scene so he could tell them goodbye.

It was one of the family members who called 911.

Strickland, who had several cuts on his hands, was taken to the hospital for treatment before being transported to the Highlands County Jail.

Temple grew up in Newport Center and worked for years at CRMI in Newport, as well as RDI Corporation.